Record Week For Lottery Winners:

CHICAGO – March 1, 2012 - Taking a vacation, buying a new house and paying bills are just some of the ways the most recent winners of the Illinois Lottery's draw and instant games plan to spend the more than $35.6 million in prizes won during the last full week of February (Feb. 17-Feb. 25).

In total, draw-based game winnings from all drawings held in last week were $12,490,724. Winners have one year from the date of the drawing to claim the prizes from those tickets.

Additionally, $23,149,663 in instant (or scratch) game cash prizes were paid last week. According to Lottery policy, instant games are closed when all top prizes are claimed, and players have one year from the official game closure date to redeem a winning ticket.

A list of current instant games, prizes remaining and claim deadlines for the Lottery's draw-style games can be found at www.illinoislottery.com.

Founded in 1974, the Illinois Lottery has contributed over $18 billion to the state’s Common School Fund to assist K-12 public schools, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars to the Capital Projects Fund and to special causes like Illinois Veterans, the fight against breast cancer, MS research, and assistance for people living with HIV/AIDS. In addition to playing in-store, the Illinois Lottery offers online and mobile play for Mega Millions, Powerball and Lotto at www.illinoislottery.com. Players must be at least 18 years old.

Play Responsibly. Must be 18 or older to play. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537). For more info or to exclude yourself call 1-800-252-1775.

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